Source:

Response:

Nothing in the real world can be proved with absolute certainty.
However, high degrees of certainty can be reached. In the case of
evolution, we have huge amounts of data from diverse fields. Extensive
evidence exists in all of the following different forms (Theobald
2004). Each new piece of evidence tests the rest.

All life shows a fundamental unity in the mechanisms of replication,
heritability, catalysis, and metabolism.

Common descent predicts a nested hierarchy pattern, or groups
within groups. We see just such an arrangement in a unique,
consistent, well-defined hierarchy, the so-called tree of life.

Different lines of evidence give the same arrangement of the tree of
life. We get essentially the same results whether we look at
morphological, biochemical, or genetic traits.

Fossil animals fit in the same tree of life. We find several cases
of transitional forms in the fossil
record.

The fossils appear in a chronological order, showing change
consistent with common descent over hundreds of millions of years
and inconsistent with sudden creation.

Many organisms show rudimentary, vestigial characters, such as
sightless eyes or wings useless for flight.

Atavisms sometimes occur. An atavism is the reappearance of a
character present in a distant ancestor but lost in the organism's
immediate ancestors. We only see atavisms consistent with
organisms' evolutionary histories.

Ontogeny (embryology and developmental biology) gives information
about the historical pathway of an organism's evolution. For
example, as embryos whales and many snakes develop hind limbs that
are reabsorbed before birth.

The distribution of species is consistent with their evolutionary
history. For example, marsupials are mostly limited to Australia,
and the exceptions are explained by continental drift. Remote
islands often have species groups that are highly diverse in habits
and general appearance but closely related genetically. Squirrel
diversity coincides with tectonic and sea level changes (Mercer and
Roth 2003). Such consistency still holds when the distribution of
fossil species is included.

Evolution predicts that new structures are adapted from other
structures that already exist, and thus similarity in structures
should reflect evolutionary history rather than function. We see
this frequently. For example, human hands, bat wings, horse legs,
whale flippers, and mole forelimbs all have similar bone structure
despite their different functions.

The same principle applies on a molecular level. Humans share a
large percentage of their genes, probably more than 70 percent,
with a fruit fly or a nematode worm.

When two organisms evolve the same function independently, different
structures are often recruited. For example, wings of birds, bats,
pterosaurs, and insects all have different structures.
Gliding has been implemented in many
additional ways.
Again, this applies on a molecular level, too.

The constraints of evolutionary history sometimes lead to suboptimal
structures and functions. For example, the human throat and
respiratory system make it impossible to breathe and swallow at the
same time and make us susceptible to choking.

Suboptimality appears also on the molecular level. For example,
much DNA is nonfunctional.

Some nonfunctional DNA, such as certain transposons, pseudogenes,
and endogenous viruses, show a pattern of inheritance indicating
common ancestry.

The day-to-day aspects of evolution -- heritable genetic
change, morphological variation and change, functional change, and
natural selection -- are seen to occur at rates consistent with
common descent.

Furthermore, the different lines of evidence are consistent; they all
point to the same big picture. For example, evidence from gene
duplications in the yeast genome shows that its ability to ferment
glucose evolved about eighty million years ago. Fossil evidence shows
that fermentable fruits became prominent about the same time. Genetic
evidence for major change around that time also is found in fruiting
plants and fruit flies (Benner et al. 2002).

The evidence is extensive and consistent, and it points unambiguously
to evolution, including common descent, change over time, and
adaptation influenced by natural selection. It would be preposterous
to refer to these as anything other than facts.